1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a capacitor array in which a plurality of capacitor units are constructed using one ceramic sintered body, and more particularly, to a capacitor array having an improvement in a structure between adjacent capacitor units.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Miniaturization and high-density mounting of an electronic component has proceeded as an electronic equipment is miniaturized. For example, as a capacitor, a subminiature multilayer ceramic capacitor has been developed. A circuit constructed by mounting a lot of subminiature multilayer ceramic capacitors on a printed circuit board has been realized.
Furthermore, in order to achieve high-density mounting of the electronic component, a capacitor array constructed by integrating a plurality of capacitors has been used. In the capacitor array, a plurality of capacitor units each constructed by forming inner electrodes so as to be overlapped with each other while being separated by a ceramic layer in one ceramic sintered body are provided side by side in the sintered body. If the capacitor array is. used, it is possible to decrease the number of capacitors to be prepared and to simplify the mounting operation.
In order to allow high-density mounting of the electronic component, it is desirable that the multilayer capacitor is made smaller in size as described above. However, the smaller the multilayer capacitor is, the smaller the area of the inner electrodes is and the lighter the multilayer capacitor is. As a result, in mounting the multilayer capacitor on the printed circuit board, the surface tension of molten solder causes such a phenomenon that the multilayer capacitor stands with its one outer electrode being a lower end and the other outer electrode floats above the printed circuit board (a tombstone phenomenon). That is, the smaller the multilayer capacitor becomes, the more difficult the mounting of the multilayer capacitor on the printed circuit board becomes.
On the other hand, when the above described capacitor array is used, the plurality of capacitor units are formed in one sintered body. Consequently, the above described tombstone phenomenon due to the surface tension of molten solder does not easily occur. In the capacitor array, however, the plurality of capacitor units are provided side by side in one sintered body, thereby to make it impossible to avoid the production of stray capacitance between the adjacent capacitor units. Therefore, a circuit using the capacitor array may, in some cases, be adversely affected by the stray capacitance.